Many video processing systems perform image processing as a part of the video processing system. This image processing can include and not be limited to image trans-sizing, inserting watermarks, image smoothing, alpha blending, image enhancement, edge enhancement, image restoration, special effects, format conversion and more. Image processing enhancement can be a critical operation for many medical imaging systems.
Image processing methods can be used in video encoding systems in which raw video data is processed before a compression scheme is applied. In addition, image processing methods can be used in transcoding systems in which a stream of compressed video is decoded, image processing methods are applied to each frame of the video stream, and the result is compressed again to generate a different stream of compressed video.
A major problem of applying image processing techniques in real-time encoder or transcoder systems is the processing load that it requires. The processing load of an image processing application requires adding more processors to the encoder or transcoder systems, and results in additional cost.